The sanctioned oil tankers have transported over $24 billion in cargo since 2024, according to Downing Street. The U.K. has now sanctioned more shadow fleet vessels than any other country.
Washington and its partners are considering additional sanctions if the parties do not observe a ceasefire, with political and technical negotiations between Europe and the U.S. intensifying since last week, Reuters' source said.
The Kyiv Independent’s contributor Ignatius Ivlev-Yorke spent a day with a mobile team from the State Emergency Service in Nikopol in the south of Ukraine as they responded to relentless drone, artillery, and mortar strikes from Russian forces just across the Dnipro River. Nikopol is located across from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the city of Enerhodar.
Peter Szijjarto's announcement came after Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) allegedly dismantled a Hungarian military intelligence network operating in Zakarpattia Oblast.
Moscow and Washington discuss the potential resumption of Russian gas supplies to Europe, among other issues related to the peaceful settlement of Russia's war in Ukraine, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed to the Russian state-run Interfax news agency.
"This is a historic decision, as weapons for Ukraine will be purchased at the expense of the proceeds from frozen Russian assets through the European Peace Fund," Denys Shmyhal said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin talks during the concert at Red Square, marking 10th anneversary of the Russian military annexation of Crimea, on March 18, 2024, in Moscow, Russia. (Contributor/Getty Images)
Representatives of Czechia and Estonia will not be in attendance for Russian President Vladimir Putin's upcoming presidential inauguration, the foreign ministers of the respective countries confirmed on May 5.
Russia's most recent presidential election has been internationally recognized as rigged by the Kremlin. Credible opposition politicians were not permitted to run in the election.
Czechia and Estonia join the United Kingdom, Canada, Latvia, and Lithuania in boycotting the inauguration schedule to be held in Moscow on May 7, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Other Western allies, including the European Union, have to yet to confirm whether their representatives will be in attendance at the event.
"Estonia cannot legitimize diplomatic relations with an aggressor state, and we have decided not to attend Putin's inauguration ceremony," a spokesperson for Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said.
"During a time when Putin is engaged in a war of aggression in Europe, killing and deporting innocent people, while carrying out hybrid attacks against EU and NATO members, we find attending ceremonies that perpetuate his rule to be unthinkable."
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky echoed comments made by his Estonian counterpart, adding that "the current relations between Czechia and Russia do not warrant the presence of our embassy representative at the Tuesday inauguration."
According to evidence published by election experts, observers, and media, the March 15-17 presidential election, which Putin 'won' with 87 per cent support, was the most rigged in Russia's modern history.
Estimates of vote rigging range from at least 22 million votes to about 31.6 million votes, without taking into account the online voting and the election at gunpoint in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.
If these results are included, voting fraud could have amounted to up to around 40 million votes, or 46% of the people who allegedly voted.
Dmytro Basmat is a senior news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He previously worked in Canadian politics as a communications lead and spokesperson for a national political party, and as a communications assistant for a Canadian Member of Parliament. Basmat has a Master's degree in Political Management from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Governance from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Oleg Sukhov
